I am an emeritus professor from Cornell University and was a Commissioned Lay Preacher in the Presbyterian Church (USA). For many years I have followed the Daily Lectionary as printed in the Mission Yearbook of my church. For each day of a two-year cycle, the lectionary lists four psalms and three other scriptural passages--usually one from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament. My practice is to copy down a verse or two from one of the psalms and from each of the other three passages. After I have written out all four selections, I reflect upon them, rearrange their order, and incorporate them into a meditation. Sometimes I retain much of the original wording; sometimes all that remains of a selection is an idea that was stimulated when I read the original words. All selections are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. For the Daily Lectionary, see the link below.

Nothing to Separate Us--July 7, 2020


O Lord our God,
our help and our hope,
forfend that I should defile
the land in which I dwell,
for you dwell here, too.

You keep faith forever, God, 
and you give food to the hungry;
you execute justice for the oppressed.

In these ways, let me be more like you.
Make me less concerned over trivia,
and more for justice, mercy, faith.

I pray, trusting that nothing now
and nothing to come, nothing
in all creation, will be able to
separate us from your love
in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 12; 146; 36; 7
Num. 35:1-3, 9-15, 30-34
Rom. 8:31-39
Matt. 23:13-26

Selected Verses
Ps. 146:5a, 6b-7a
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
          whose hope is in the LORD their God…
who keeps faith forever;
          who executes justice for the oppressed;
          who gives food to the hungry.

Num. 35:34
You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I also dwell; for I the LORD dwell among the Israelites.  [The LORD to the Israelites, speaking through Moses]

Rom. 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Matt. 23:23
“ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.  It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.  ….”  [Jesus, to the crowds and to his disciples]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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